Masonry’s secrecy let nativists link it to any evil group

Evidence

The line between anti-Masonry and other forms of nativism proved diffi cult to draw. In theory, the anti-Masons of the 1820s and 1830s feared the order because they identifi ed it with such subversive organizations as the Bavarian Illuminati. Masonry was an alien secret society eroding American institutions from within. But its very secrecy allowed its enemies to link it to a variety of other groups and organizations, including Jews and Jesuits, prefi guring the more complex conspiratorial linkages of later periods. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 609

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Masonry’s gentry takeover was economic survival, not occult plotting — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 610; Modern anti-Catholic conspiracy targets organizational secrecy, not theology — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 625; Anti-Catholic nativism prefigured the pattern of religious othering in America — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 272 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Anti-Catholic nativism prefigured the pattern of religious othering in America #expands (0.82) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 272
• Religious practices get reframed as security threats justifying citizen surveillance #qualifies (0.70) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 273